Apparatus for forming sheet metal into shapes.



A. J. ELLIS & C. E. NELLIS.

APPARATUS FOR FORMING SHEET METAL INTO SHAPES.

APPLICATION FILED IAN. 3e. I9II.

1,142,242.. Patented June 8,1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

A. J. ELLIS & c. E. NELLIS. APPARATUS- FOR FORMING SHEET METAL INTO SHAPES.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 30. 19H.

Patented June 8, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 amazes to which it is subjected.

Jf. LLIS, essere@ so A.- 1-

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arrasa T0 all whom it may concern:

Beit knownthat we, ALFRED CHARLES E. NELLIS, citizens ofthe United. States, residing at Woodcliif on Hudson, township of North Bergen, in the county of AHudson. and 'State of New Jerseya have 1nvented certain new and useful Improvel ments in Apparatus for Forming Sheet Metal into Shapes, of which the vfollowing is la full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to apparatus for rolling sheet material into forms adapted for use as molding and the like, such forms being of any desired coniguration in crosssection and of indefinite length.

' Bv the means disclosed herein a strip of 'fsheet metal or the like may be molded or rolled into the desired form by passing the same through a series of iuting rolls of different shapes, the material being preferably drawn through the said rolls and thereby maintainedl straight after delivery therefrom; while if inadvertently or for any reason deformed by longitudinal curvature, such material is straightened by the tension A further object of our invention is to so conduct the rolling operation proper that such deformation will be substantially obviatedfo Y Another object of the invention is to facilitate the process of rolling in the manner Aabove .described by providingl means whereby the said rollsmay automatically' center' or aline themselves, so to speak; the material itself being used as the means for displacing successive rolls laterally with re-L spect to the material to a greater or less extent duriig the initial operation of the mechanism employed, by which action ase'- ries of sets of rolls are definitely alined, and theshape to `be rolled is thereby delivered from the rolls substantially free from distortion.

Other objects of our invention will be hereinafter referred to and more particularly set forth in the appendedclaims.

In the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof and which exemplifyy one form of apparatus adapted to produce the product in question: Figure 1 is a side elevation of the vsaid apparatus. Fig. 2 is a plan of the same. Fig. 3 is an elevation of thel rolling proper drawn to mechamsm larger scale. Fig. 4 a plan of the Same.

'as mais, rnc., A eq'nzeonnrron or New. JERSEY.'

l 'Specification of Letters. Patent.

J. Ennis and erw vonorariaoir-Humala, NEW JERSEY..

Patented J une 8, 19,15.

I Application led January 80, 1911. Serial No. 605,424.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary section showing a portion of the finishing rolls with the fixiishedmaterial, in section, therebetween.

Li e characters of reference designate like parts throughout the several views.

Referring irst to Figs. 1 and 2, then complete apparatus is therein shown toy consist of two principal'parts, namely a rolling mill shown at the left hand side of each of said figures and a draw-bench at the right hand sides of the same. The millcomprises a suitable supporting plate 1 mountedon legs 2 carrying a grooved bed-plate 3 which may be secured to the supporting plate in any suitable manner, the grooves 4 in the'bedplate being preferably laterally undercut as at 5. A number of these grooves are -provided, more or less of which will be used according to thev complexity of the shape to be rolled. In rolling the shape 6, for example, shown in Fig. 5, in section, ve pairs of rolls are employed, the spindles of these rolls being Journaled in suitable boxes 7, which boxes are preferably all substantially the same in form and in dimensions and Ahave the vertical edges'thereof recessed as at' 8 for the reception of the sides of the uprightsor housings 9. The lower extremities of these housings are dove-tailed so that the same may be entered into the grooves 4, and when positioned therein, will be held securely against movement other. than thatA in the direction of said grooves. After the per boxes may be correspondingly-spaced from the lower by similar means and the upper extremities of the housings are laterally recessed to form dovetail shaped grooves 13 which are adapted for the reception of the correspondingly formed extremities of the tie-bars 14.

VThe rolls are slidably mounted on threaded vhousings 9 have beenalined, they are locked es l spindles 15,Y the respective extremities vof ria which are preferably slightly reduced in diameter and are journaled as aforesaid'in the boxes 7, each vspindle being provided upon either side ofits roll with a nut 1 6. Locknuts 17 may further be rovided, 1f desired. Nuts 16 may be turne freely away from Athe rolls so as to leave the latter free for longitudinal displacement when desired, for reasons hereinafter referred to. For convenience the first set of rollsare respectlvely designatedlS and 19; the secondset 20 and 21; the third, 22 and 23; the fourth, 24 and 25; and the fth,.26 and 27; the even numbered rolls being the lowermost in each case.

supported in any lsuitable manner, as by means of a rod which extends between the 'angle bars 31 which project from the rear end of the bed-plate, said bars beingsecured thereto in any suitable manner, as by means ofthe trapezoidally shaped blocks 32 and bolts 33. The material to' be rolled first passes between suitable guides, as for example, the rollers 34, which may be mounted in suitablerecesses provided in guide bars '35.' These latter are in turn mounted upon acrossbar 36 which is secured to the first pair ofhousings by means, for example, of suitable clamps 37, the latter being drawn toward'the sides of the housings to which they are secured by means of bolts 38. The cross-bar 36 is preferably slotted as in dicated i n Fig. 4, wherein the upper side ofthe slotted central portion is broken away at 39 Yto expose the strip ofsheet material passing through the said slot, while thel under side of said slotted portion is indicated in dotted 40 recessedbforthe reception of cross-bar. 36,-as

indicated at 41, and are secured thereupon in any suitable manner. 'The material passes through these guides tothe first rollsl 18 and 19 .effect we have found it highlyadvantageous to secure only one of these rolls, preferably the bottom roll 18, against longitudinal displacement by clamping it between its nut 1.6; the upper iroll 19 'be'ing free to rotate unrestrainedly upon its spindle and to center upper rolls'areI held down almost in contact with the lower rolls, leaving just suliicient spacefor the material to pass therebetween,

' by means ofthe screws 42, which are threadlines at 40. The guide bars 35 are centrally tion of roll 19; Thereafter the material passes between rolls .20 and 21, where the groove is lmade still deeper and the curva-'711 ture of the-sides more pronounced. Rolls 20j and 21 are preferably both left free initially 7o to adjust themselves laterally with respect to the material passed therebetween from the rst set of rolls, so that there is notendency to impart a lateral curvature to the strip, as would be' the case if the second set of rolls were initially clamped against such lateral displacement and the centers thereof should A happento be slightly out of alinement with The -sheet material 28 is preferably provided and in carrying'our novel process into` l itself with respect to the lower roll. The

65 thereof in conformityjwith the curvedfporthe centers of the lirst set of rolls. The material passes from' the second set of rollsto the third set where, in producing the particular product exemplied, saidthird setform the flanges .45, such flanges of coursenot being inwardly directed as in the nished product, but projecting laterally as shown in Fig. 4. These rollsv also serve to form the corrugations disposed upon either side of the central groove 43. Here again the respective rolls are left free to adjust themselves with respect to those above mentioned by initially spacing the clamping nuts a sufficient distance away from the respective ends lofthe roll. The materia-l then passes to the fourth set of rolls where its sides are curved downwardly in this instance, the flanged portions being thrown around so that they are 1n ap-` proximate parallelism.- Finally the material passes to the finishing vrolls which have substantially the configuration shown in Figs. 4 and 5; the lower roll 26 being quite narrow so that itis enabled to pass freely out of the aperture left between the ianges 45 when the same have been ldriven around into the position shown in Fig. 5, the upper roll effecting this action by co-acting with the lower roll to more sharply bend the corru-v gations 446. Of course these last sets of rolls are also free, atleast initially, to displace themselves longitudinally so that the centrally disposed lianges of all of the upper rolls and corresponding recesses or grooves of the lower rolls are arranged .in the same plane. Of course it will be understood that it is not essential that ythe product have the configuration shown in Fig. 5 and that the rolls may be modified in accordance with the form of material to be produced'. In' any event, however, we prefer to leave all of the succeeding rolls free to displace themselves laterally with respect to thematerial and to thereby aline themselves; one of the first rolls alone being secured against displacement to, in effect serve as a guide for the others'.

It will be observed too that the successive rolls are disposed at varying levels. This is desirable when rolling shapes of the character in question, since when the metal is luted, corrugated, or troughed, it has a tendency to A distort or curve around verti-n A curvature,

this shaft lcarrying upon said pinion a gear cally one way or the other according to the indentatipns, troughs ,or corrugations formed therein, and this ltendency may be counteracted in a great measure by properly elevating or depressing, the following set ory sets of rolls. In rolling the shape shown 1n Fig. 5, for example, the rolls are arranged at the levels shown in the drawings. `By reason of this arrangement the material tends to emerge from the last set of rolls substantially without lateral distortion or and hence it is possible to manufacture the product by driving the roll-train direct by any of the usual means employed to this end, if desired, but'we prefer to pass the material between the respective sets of rolls .by drawing the same, and to this end may provide, for example, the draw-bench already referred to. This draw-bench may be of the ,usual construction so that only a brief description of the same will here be given. It consistsof the rails 50 which are preferably much longer than those shown in Figs. l and 2, a section being broken out of the rails, and also the other ,parts of this portion of the device, at 51, in order to save space. The rails 50 are preferably I-beams and are secured together by suitable frames, the frame adjacent the roll-train being designated 52 and thatat the rear of the drawbench being broadly designated 53. Be-` tween these railsis disposed the channel 54 over which the chain 55 is adapted to slide.

yAt the left hand end of the said rails and secured to the webs thereof is a suitable casting 56 which serves as a bearing for thev spindle `of the idler-sprocket 57 over which passes the chain 55. The rear end of this chain correspondingly passes over a sprocket 58 which is mounted on the shaft 59, said shaft being j ournaled in bearings carried by or forming a part of the frame 53. Shaft 59 carries upon one extremity the gear 60 yvhich is in mesh with apinion 61 mounted on a countershaft 62 also "journaled in frame 53, the, end opposite 63. which correspondingly meshes with a pinion p64 mounted on the driving ,shaft 65 which is jeurnaled in the forward end of frame 53. This shaft carries fast and loose pulleys respectively designated 66 and 67 ,these pulleys in turn be. ing 'driven by a belt -68 which is provided by a bell-lever 71, which latter is pivoted at v72 toa suitable bracket'7 3 carried uponpthe side of the outer rail as shown in VFig. 2. A rod 74 mounted in suitable brackets 75 is l Y longitudinally displaable by meansof a1@- rugatedin analogous fashionto the product lever 76, the handle of which lever is conveniently disposed adjacent the roll-train, this rod being -connected at its farther ex- `tl`1bular and is jaws` 79 and 80 are mounted upon suitable rollers 81-82 which ride on the upper faces of the rails. yThesejaws are ofthe usual type, being adapted to be opened by lever v 83 and are adapted to be drawn along from the forward to .the rear end ofthe rails when the pivoted hook 84, which'is secured tothe outer extremity of the link 85, is `enords` ans for con-Ov gaged with one of the pins 86 of the chain,

link of course pulling lever 87 which is pivotallyl mounted upon the spindle 88 upon which` rollers 8l are mounted, to the rear, and thereby through the instrumentality of link 89 drawing the gether.

In operation after the material has been passed between the respective sets of. rolls,

the extremity thereof is gripped between the jaws 7 9-80 by rotating leverv 83 downwardly, the hook 84 is thrown over so that it may engage one of the pins 86 and the ldraw-bench mechanism is started by means of lever 76. Thereafter the jaws 7 9-80 are drawn still more tightly together, firmly gripping the material therebetween and are pulled by the chaintoward the rear end of the bench, rapidly and eiiiciently pulling the material through between the rolls which form the same into the required shape in the manner above/described, and the 'tension unljaws 79--80 firmly toloe der which the material ls placed, after being f not only mainformed by this operation,

tains the'same lperfectly straight, but if any lateral distortion has occurred, serves-to substantially remove the same.- After the material has adjusted the rolls in the manner described, the'lock-nuts may be screwed upagainst their respective rolls, if desired, which, will serve to prevent any'accidental displacement'of said rolls in operation.

To the best of our knowledge it has never been possible heretofore to cold roll-complexly iutedf thin metalstrips or moldings of the types in quesvtioncso that such strips shall he practically perfectly straight when formed, since it hasalways beenl found necessary hitherto to" straighten out the productsin a separate subsequent operation. We, are aware that it is old to form pipes 'and tubing by pulling\ sheet material through cross rolls, but the pr uct produced by our processis practically nonformed from thinsl'l'eet material, the same 'being'in most instances co1'-A exemplied and heiligV stra' when delivered from the machine.

lgllibis straght- Q ness of the product, we believe, is due tothe perfect alining ofthe rolls,'accomplished in manner aforesaid;v to the step by step counteraction'of any tendency to laterally. distort by varying the heights of successive ent conformations and disposed at different elevations for successively shaping the sheet .of material, each of said pairs of rollsbeing disposed at an elevation with respect through the 3fsupports for the same,

to the other pairs of rolls suchthat any -longitudinal curvature of the sheet of materia] caused by the shaping of the same betweenV one pair of rolls will be straightened upon the sheet of material/.passing said rolls.

2. In an apparatus for forming sheet- ,ma-

f terial into shapes,

plurality of pairs y to successively engage ashee't of material,

' lthe adjustment of a roll with respect to the pluralitypf pairs dof the istypair' being'f others vbeing controlled by` the conformations' formed in the sheet of material..

terial into shapes, la roll train comprising a cessively engage a sheet f material, one roll I next pair of rolls and means Lfor vdrawing the v sheet of material through a roll train comprisinga of fluting rolls arranged.

said rolls beingfree to move laterally on said s11'pp'orts,'meanst for drawing the material through the rolls,

xed against. lateral V movement, `the other -rolls being free t9 move. laterally, the positioning :of the other roll of the first pair andthe remaining rollsof the trainbeing controlled bythe means for -drawing saidmaterial through .said rolls.

4. In an apparatus for forming sheet ma-l v p, `terial into shapes, a roll train comprising a"` plurality of pairs of. rolls arranged to successively engage a sheet of material, one roll,

.'roll's of the train being' controlled by the vconformations in the sheet of material, and

means for drawing said material through said rolls, together` with means for locking said rolls after they have been positioned.

5. An apparatus for forming sheet material into shapes, a roll train comprisingv a plurality of pairs of rolls arranged to sucterial, each pair of, rolls ybeing of a4 diiierent conformation and disposed at a `different elevation, supports for said rolls, said rolls -conformations in the sheet of material, and

-cessivelyengage and hold a ,sheetof ma:

being free move laterally on said supports, and .means for locking one of the rolls of the one pair to engage the sheet of material and ho1dit against'lateral 1nove-l ment.

In .Witness whereof, wefsubscribe our sigi-` I l v natures, Ain the resence of two witnesses. 3. lIn 'an apparatus for forming sheet ma-f.' gli ERED J,5 ELLIS. CHARLES E.'NELLIS.. Witnesses: l

M.,C1IA1 IN," .Winmx C. Leni', 

